March 9, 2026 | OKCPS Board Meeting

001mini darts. >> Okay, tell them what your name is. >> Sorella Overby. Sorella Promise Overby. >> Tell them where you're from. >> America. There we go. Also, Willowbrook. But she's going to be up here in a little bit. So, don't leave before you get to hear this one introduce herself here in a little bit. But we do have like 1 minute before the meeting starts. All right, tell. >> Bye. I'm going to be back soon. >> There you go. Well, I can call the door. Okay, welcome. Thank you for being here. Appreciate the people who joined us to celebrate uh Meg Mhaney. And we'll be reading a resolution for Mike and Meg here shortly for their service on the board. And then we have an exciting guest speaker that you guys got a little preview

002to earlier, Miss Serilla down there on the front row. So with that, I will go ahead and call the meeting to order and have Craig uh read in the uh just our meeting protocols. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. If everyone would please take a minute to silence your cell phone, we would appreciate that. If you need to have an extended conversation with the person next to you or on your phone, please do so in the lobby. Please note, spontaneous comments from the floor are not permitted. Individuals who exhibit disruptive or distracting behavior will be asked to leave. And finally, those who come to the podium to address the board are asked to please introduce yourself by name, title, and organization if external to OKCPS. With that, I will call the role. >> Paula Lewis, >>

003present. >> Carol Thompson. Lori Bowman, >> present. >> Jessica Suentes, >> present. >> Dana Meister, >> and she said present. Her mic just didn't pick it up, but for the live stream, >> present. >> She is present. Thank you, Miss Meister. And Mike Shelton >> is Toy Story. >> Present. >> Juan Lakona and me Mhaney >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Thank you. And if everybody would please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. Thank you. You may be seated. All >> right. Thank you. Okay. We do have one public comment and that

004is Miss Relle Dudu Taylor and she'll be speaking on 4.01 which is our monitoring report and from Willowbrook Elementary. >> Madam Chair, would you like me to read the protocols or with just one? >> Oh, I thought you Sorry. Go ahead. >> It's okay. Uh public comments are limited to 3 minutes and for those making public comments, please be aware no person will be allowed to speak regarding the following issues subject to collective bargaining. Comments regarding the performance of individual employees or students. Comments disclosing confidential student or personal information protected by law. Student disciplinary matters which may ultimately reach the board. Solicitations for business or services to the district. campaigning, solicitation of votes, or other electioneering activities. Personal attacks, meaning remarks directed at a person's private character or motives rather than their official acts or

005policies, threats or conduct that disrupts the orderly business of the meeting, or specific facts or allegations in any pending grievance, investigation, or litigation involving the district or its employees. However, general comments on policy are permitted. The board chair may interrupt and terminate any presentation not in accordance with these criteria and the interest of orderly conduct of board meetings. Spontaneous discussion from the floor is not permitted. Finally, please know that board members will not respond to speakers comments during the meeting. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Thank you. Hang on. Hey, Tony. Can I see you for just a second? I want to ask you a question. Give me one second. I know nerve-wracking, but hang on one second. All right. So, sorry that was a little bit of logistics, but I know you guys uh

006signed up to be a public comment, and that's great. The issue with the public comment is this board's not going to be able to brag on Crella of how good she did and I'm not happy with that. And so we're gonna basically bump this into 4.01 because it does have to do with our monitoring report and that way after they talk then the board can have some engagement. So we are going to move uh we'll uh we'll let you go ahead and talk it right now instead of making you wait because we do have the superintendent's update coming. Um but let's go ahead and have you guys talk. But I'm going to make this not an official public comment. It could either be because there's NWA on the superintendent so I can make it 3.012.

007We got you. Let's go. >> Excellent. Thank you so very much. OKCPS board superintendent Dr. Poke. We are so honored to be here. And of course for our chairperson Paula Lewis. I'm Michelle Dodu Taylor. I'm at Willoughbrook Elementary, home of the Cardinals. And we serve our Spencer feeder pattern with preK kindergarten and first grade. and we focus on early literacy skills, foundational skills, and allowing our children to dream big and reach postsecary opportunities at an early age. Today I have my ELA coordinator and one of our representatives and I'll allow them to introduce themselves. Good evening. I'm Dr. Caroline Davis. I'm the ELA Lee at Willoughbrook Elementary. Recently our students uh were engaged in student le conferences and um I have Miss Serella promise overbe here who is going to share some of the data

008they got they gathered from um the test and the conferences they had. You can do it like this. Read this way. Then you're done. You read this way again loud and clear. >> Hi, my name is Sarella and I'm in first grade at Woolbook Elementary. My teacher is Miss Freudenberger. Thank you for letting us come to your meeting. At school, we take a test on a on the tablet called NW EA. It helps us see how much our brain are growing. We also get to track our phonics growth daily using reading horizons. It gathers our data and put this on the graph. In the fall, my score in reading horizons was 173. I practiced really hard. In the winter, my score went up to 180. That put me in the 90 first percentile. I meant

009my favorite part of testing was using numbers. It was easy and it made me excited. We aren't done with testing. I have a big goal for the end of the year. I have to get even better at math. I like adding big numbers now. Even multiplication. I also want to be a better reader. I am practicing reading every day. Roll Willowbrook is a great is great. I mean I like my school because I really my teacher I mean love my teacher and vessels. I learned so much. Thank you for making my call a fun place to learn. >> Hang on. Good job. >> Thank you so very much for giving them the opportunity to their oral expression from first grade. >> Hey Satella, will you come grab this for me? Right down here. Come grab

010this. This was your signup sheet. You can have it. So over here. Okay. You can take that. No, you can take it. Your mom. All right. Now, aren't you guys glad I pulled that off public comment so y'all can say something to this young lady? Feel free. >> Congratulations. Uh, thank you for being here. It Thank you for being such a brave kid. Uh it takes courage to speak in front of others. I'm 47. Trust me, I I still get nervous to speak in public. I have uh I do my best each and every day. Uh keep reading, believe in your goals, and keep pushing forward. Don't stop. Way to go. >> Anyone else? Dana, you anything? >> What an inspiration. I couldn't stop smiling. I was up here ear to ear. That was so

011amazing. You You brought tears to my eyes. That was so wonderful. I dittoit everything that Juan said. And don't ever give up. Your dreams are ahead of you and you can achieve anything that you want to achieve. And we're here for you. Yeah. Good job. All right. Okay. Thank you so very much for being here and joining us in 91st percentile. Holy moly. That's great. That is incredible. Good job. Have a good night. All right, that brings us to superintendent's update. Dr. Pulk. >> Thank you, Chair Lewis. >> Good evening, board chair Lewis and members of the board. I'm excited to bring another superintendence update. Great systems. On March 1st, we open enrollment for the upcoming school year. Families are choosing OKCPS because they believe in the opportunities we provide for their children. >> Every

012enrollment represent a family trusting us with their child's future. As enrollment begins, I want to remind families about the district's online learning option. The first choice online learning program is also open for enrollment for all grade levels and is an option for students who want a flexible learning option while having access to schoolbased extracurriculars. Enrollment and more information can be found on our website. Thousands of our students showed strong growth on the NWA assessment this winter. That growth tells us our teachers hard work is helping students become stronger readers and thinkers. When students grow, we celebrate. >> In other exciting news, our dual language program at Adelaide Lee is taking applications for next school year. This program will help students become bilingual and biiterate. Students will learn academic content while building skills in two languages,

013helping them prepare for college, careers, and leadership in a global world. On March 6, we celebrated reading across the district with community volunteers and staff reading to students. Scholars experience the joy of books and storytelling. Events like this remind our children that reading opens doors. Great culture. During February, our students honored Black History Month by learning about leaders who shaped our nation and our city. These lessons help students understand history and see themselves in stories of courage and achievement. Great people. Douglas High School principal Kevin Jones was named one of the Black Chronicles 50 under 50. This recognition reflects his commitment to students and strong leadership. When our leaders shine, our students benefit. Mary Golden Ross students partnered with the regional food bank to package food for families in need. They practice teamer responsibility and

014civic leadership. At Capitol Hill Middle School, students participated in Junior Achievement Biz Town, learning how to run businesses, pay taxes, and lead companies. We had an incredible month and look forward to the learning ahead. Thank you for tuning in and let's get to work. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody have any comments, questions? Yes. >> I just want to uh first of all, thank you for your uh comments and I just want to uh Kevin Jones is doing an amazing job. And since this is my last board meeting, I just want to make sure that uh he knows uh how proud I am of having the opportunity to uh have watched their growth. Uh but uh you know you lead by example and I and because it has not been talked about uh enough uh because

015Douglas went through such a long period of time to come off that needs improvement list. I feel like it's necessity that I take a time over the short time it well since I was in this position Star Spencer came off. So there might be a connection of Star Spencer coming off of that list as me being in this role. So I just want to congratulate Mr. Harris, the principal of Star Spencer. I want to congratulate his team of administrators, the teachers, uh the most important the the students for doing the work. Uh but I also want to acknowledge uh uh newly formed PTA is they're not so newly formed but I can tell you I I think that that it took a little everybody to make it uh happen and it is happening and I

016just want to uh acknowledge them. Thank you for your service, Dr. Pope. >> Anyone else? Okay. All right. That means everybody's excited to get to the monitoring report. So 401 um we moved this up ahead of some things so that we'd be fresh so that we're not coming to the end of this at 7. So that's where we're at. So monitoring report here it is Dr. Pulk. >> Thank you again Chair Lewis and board members as they uh put our information on the screen. I want to once again reiterate uh that our board has set clear student outcome goals. By 2030, we want 40% of our fourth grade students to be proficient in reading on the state assessment. To reach that long-term goal, we must start much earlier. That is why the board and I

017have looked at interim goal 1B. And so this goal measures a percentage of first grade students who are making accelerated reading growth, meaning they are growing faster than a typical year of learning. Our aim is to increase that percentage from 21.9% to 34% by 2028. The reason this metric matters is because early growth is predictive. If more first graders grow faster now, more students will be on track to read proficiently by fourth grade. This interim goals tells us whether our early literacy system is working before students reach the state test. Next slide please. Here you will also see in regards of the percent a reiteration of interim goal 1B. I had spoken earlier and I must clear once the board sets the goal then the team cabinet and I set the interim goals and that's

018what you see there is 1B. Next slide. This year, 29.1% of first grade students met or exceeded the 70th percentile growth target in reading. This is a 7.2% point increase from last year. Our annual target for this year was 24.9% and we exceeded that target by 4.2%. 2 percentage points. Because of this progress, this interim goal is currently on track. My interpretation of this data is that more of our youngest learners are now experiencing accelerated reading growth, which means our early literacy strategies are beginning to take hold across the system. At the same time, we know this is only one year of progress. To reach the 34% goal by 2028, we must continue strengthening the systems that are driving this improvement. Major takeaway, this year's gains show that our early literacy efforts are working. Board

019chair, we've made a adjustment an adjustment to move the progress monitoring earlier in the agenda. We've also have asked others to come to the mic and share some of the work so that you will the board will hear the voices of others. So at this time I'll ask the next presenter to come and talk about what's going well. I believe that's the next iteration for and I will wrap up once they continue. >> Welcome. >> Hello. Good evening board chair, chair Lewis, members of the board. Um it's going to be very difficult to follow that, but I hope that that is um some of our work um in the living proof and there is no one better to tell our story uh than our students. So so grateful that we got to start with that.

020We're going to start with Mr. Galloway who's just going to give uh some quick background around the four cornerstones that you're going to see show up in our monitoring report and that has been showing up in our reports um up until now. Thank you and good evening, Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Bowman, Superintendent Pope, members of the board. One thing you're going to see throughout our monitoring report this month are four overarching systems, curriculum strategy, assessment strategy, instructional monitoring and support, and data informed collaboration and planning. So this is part of a greater framework that we have been grounded in in OKCPS for the past six years and it's rooted in the University of Virginia's instructional infrastructure model. And so I like to think about these four strategic areas like spokes of a wheel that to

021lift performance overall you have to give attention to each of these strategic areas. focusing on one individually will not raise the bar for our students. And so these are strategic areas that we focus on systemwide to ensure that we have the right conditions in place so that schools can thrive. And the reason that it shows up across the monitoring report both in what's going well and the barriers and our next steps is because each of these systems are on a continuum. So starting from the foundational level all the way to aspirational levels, the team is constantly working within each of these strategic areas to identify the next best step to strengthen these areas. And so that's why they show up through the monitoring report and we're excited to talk to you tonight about them. Thank

022you. >> Good evening. I am Dr. Cartina McDaniel. I serve Oklahoma City Public Schools as the executive director of elementary curriculum and um I have the honor of reporting out what is going well. So I'm going to as Jason mentioned talk through um the four areas that um he pointed out. We'll start with curriculum. All of our 31 schools, elementary schools are currently using reading horizons V9 as our supplemental phonics phenemic awareness curriculum. This was adopted as a result of our data reflecting a widening gap in students phonics and phmic awareness and that suggested the need for more explicit phonics instruction. Another curriculum strategy is we're tracking the pacing of lessons and lesson delivery minutes to ensure the curriculum recommended delivery time of 30 to 50 minutes daily is adhered. We're also monitoring and tracking

023lesson component fidelity. There are five components to the reading horizon's curriculum. That includes review, which is activating prior knowledge, instruction, explicit teaching of phonics and decoding skills, fluency, dictation, and transfer. As far as our assessment strategies in OKCPS, we test 95% or more of our students for growth and achievement three times a year. and within the first 30 days of new enrollments for Oklahoma City's students. By using Reading Horizons, we now have another data point that is not just our NWA data, but now we have a daily skill check data and we have multi-skll check data and that helps us be more targeted with our data points. We also have aligned assessment calendars. So from the district we provide a district testing calendar but schools then build sightsp specific assessment dates and data review dates.

024This builds reliability and confidence in our teaching staff. Under instructional monitoring and support we are tracking coaching cycles to support literacy instruction. This helps to refine and strengthen strengthen our teacher practices within the reading block. Our common reading horizons look fors and coaching targets are helpful to determine what we can celebrate and what needs additional support. Our middle of the year reading horizons data revealed that more support was needed around the transfer portion of the reading horizon's lessons. So for the last 30 days, that has been a focus for our principal supervisors. As we gather data, we can have more targeted coaching cycles. Under data-informed collaboration, all schools are using a database decision-making protocol that helps teams move through strong instructional cycles of reviewing assessments, planning, teaching, reviewing that data and responding with reteing or

025enrichment. Our grade level teams are regularly reviewing data together and determining and planning for next steps. This might include whole group retach, small groupoup instruction, or individual intervention opportunities. Our early literacy strategy is beginning to produce accelerated growth in our youngest readers, putting us on track toward our long-term reading goals. So, as the chief of academics, I'm going to walk through some of the barriers to progress and then talk to you about the strategy um that we'll deploy to address the barriers that we've identified um in our data. So, under curriculum strategy, one of the barriers that we've been able to identify is some inconsistent pacing um across schools. And I want to speak to that just a little bit. It's not that our teachers are not delivering lessons daily. We've seen strong implementation with

026them showing up and doing reading horizons every day, but that just right pace is not too slow and not too fast. So, not taking too long to go through a lesson in my daily instruction and not moving through the lesson too fast. So, we're looking for that just right pace, that sweet spot. Um, in addition to that, once we've done a lesson with our students, doing the daily skill check and the multi-skll check to then be able to pull kids back to small groups and support them with differentiated instruction. Um, we've recognized that we need to provide some more support in that area. And that support looks like two things. It looks like training. So, how do I differentiate skill by skill? And then some resources. We need to provide teachers with more things um

027for students to be able to manipulate when they're pulled back to a small group. um with teacher at teacher table. Um assessment strategy. Some of the things that we've identified within our assessment strategy is fully monitored assessment calendars. At the district level, we have a district-wide assessment calendar. But schools then need to take that district-wide assessment calendar and internalize it and make it their own. And adding to their sitebased assessment calendar is when are those multi-skll checks going to be given? and then when are we going to come together as a team and review that data and not leaving that to chance that those are calendared out week by week, month by month so teachers know exactly what to expect and when we're going to talk about it. The other thing we've identified is that

028we need to provide some more training to building leaders as well as in instructional coaches around how to triangulate data. Um they know how to look at NWA but now how do we look at NWA? How do we look at an interim assessment compared to our reading horizon skill checks? And what do those three data points now tell us about student needs? And how do we need to strategically and systematically address those needs? So, we've identified some areas of opportunity with professional development, instructional monitoring and support strategy. Um, coaching cycles, um, coaching cycles are taking place. Um, but what we've recognized is that they're not consistently documented. Again, I want to speak to that just a little bit deeper in that they're not explicitly documenting when they're coaching around literacy. We have our coaches coaching

029around all kinds of things, classroom management, math. Um, but we really need to narrow the focus and have them hone in on the literacy block. What's happening in that 90 minute or that 120 minute literacy block? And how are you coaching once you've identified a skill gap within classroom instruction? How are we supporting the teacher? So just narrowing our focus to more targeted around the literacy bot. Um and then some calibration expectations for what does high quality literacy look like from class to class? What should I be seeing as a building leader? What should I be seeing as an instructional coach? What should I be what should I be doing um as a teacher for my literacy block to be considered high quality? And what are the components that should be contained in a daily

030literacy block? So some opportunities there. So, some specific ways that we will address um our barriers that we've identified is support teachers in differentiated instruction planning and resources, standardize our expectations for how we're going to document instructional cycles tied to literacy, um and identify model classrooms for best practices. um we need to identify where our exemplar teachers are and provide other opportunities for other teachers to go in and see what a highquality um literacy block looks like. And then for deepening existing strategies, um, some of the same things that, uh, Alicia just mentioned, um, under a curriculum strategy, um, teachers teaching the Reading Horizon's curriculum, it's a scripted program that is helping deepen their understanding of structured literacy. So, we are excited to um, dig more into that. um deepening uh teacher competency and support

031for teachers um through our coaching cycles. Um within reading horizons, there is a uh lesson preview button. So teachers are um able to preview the lesson before they teach the lesson. Um it also has a coaching um function where they can actually get some coaching on how that lesson should be taught. So those are resources that are built into the program. Um, we also want to guarantee that students are receiving their 15 minutes or more of daily differentiated practice that's aligned to their skill need. Um, as far as assessment strategy, we want to create stronger assessment systems across schools um by implementing consistent schoolwide assess assessment calendars. Um, like I said, we have the district calendar, but we want to make sure that we are um calendaring not only assessments, but when we review the

032data from those assessments and then building that stronger data triangulation. Every day after a lesson, students take um a pre-skll check and then a post-skll check so we can see where they were when we started and then where they are after the lesson. And then after three or four lessons, there's a multi-kill check that checks to see are they retaining the information that they've been taught over three or four lessons. And then for um instructional monitoring, we want to ensure that our coaching cycles do get documented and that we are really focusing on improving teacher practice in literacy. Um we also want to strengthen our use of classroom look for tools to monitor the instruction. Um, we want to ensure that our not only instructional coaches but that our principles and instructional leaders feel confident

033using those tools. And then for data informed collaboration and planning, um, our PLC teams are encouraged and expected to review student data within five school days of an assessment or their next PLC to have time to plan for next steps and then use our instructional cycle that includes planning, instruction, assessment, reteing, and enrichment for what students need. Our focus is on stronger implementation and fidelity, ensuring that strategies work in every classroom and lead us to measurable outcomes. The focus is moving from implementation to instructional fidelity and ensuring these strategies work in every classroom across all schools. And then last on the monitoring report, we'll talk about um activating new strategies. So one of the strategies under curriculum strategy is project. We received a state grant this year um to implement some high dosage tutoring. We

034are tracking by need and by name compared to NWA scores um what students are benefiting from that as a strategy and seeing some good results. Currently we have six schools that are participating that in the elementary and looking to expand that as we move forward. Um, also introducing stronger um, discussion classroom discussion or enhanced classroom discussion strategies. I think Cartina provided for you all what that looks like. So, training teachers, this refers back to John Hattie's work, um, high impactful instructional strategies, but training our teachers deeply on these instructional strategies that can be used across every classroom and every content area. Part of our assessment strategy is to provide more clearly defined tier 2 and intervention structures and resources. So what are the things what are the platforms? Um what are the resources we're going

035to put in teachers hands to be providing tier 2 and tier three interventions across all classrooms. Instructional monitoring and support. We've talked a lot about coaching cycles um but really narrowing the focus to be around literacy so that those literacy coaching cycles are directly measured back to improve student outcomes so that we can get to the point where we can say as a result of this coaching cycle with this teacher in the literacy block these students performed better on the next interim assessment in NWA assessment or even a reading horizon skill check data-informed collaboration strategy. Um, we need to move from just shortterm student outcome goals like you heard our students talk about today around NWA reading or NWA math and move from site level goals to grade goals, teacher goals, and individual skill goals.

036We want our students to be able to name what are their skill gaps and what are they working on to fill those gaps individually. Um, another thing I want to mention here is just time. In elementary, we need we need more time. We only have one 50inute PLC per week that we're allowed to pull teachers according to our current CBA negotiated agreement and review data, but it's going to take more time than that to review the data, create a plan to be able to respond to the data, especially to meet the needs that we're seeing for our tier 2 and our tier tier three kids. So, we will be expanding that conversation um later into the summer with our union to see where can we come to a common ground or common agreement to find

037more time for our teachers and our leaders to do the things that we're asking them to do. Um so, our focus is to continue to deepen these strategies that you've heard about tonight so that we can help to accelerate growth even further beyond what you've seen in our current NWA scores to our students that need additional support the most. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Well, that was great information. Thank you so much for sharing that. Um, you might stay up there. We might have some questions. Not sure, but we'll move along. But first, I wanted to say a couple of things. Um, one, incredible work because this didn't just happen today. I mean, three years as NWA since we've had that. Prior to that, we had after um, Pathway to Greatness. We repurposed

038under Dr. Pulk's leadership in elementaryaries for early Head Start, birth three programs in four of our buildings. um we've had read OKC with the foundation for going on nine or 10 years at this point. So I think that the systems you're putting in place are going to be able to capture and really give these kids a chance to show what they can do based on everything we've done in the past to bring them forward. Before I pass it on, I do want to say I got to read at the parks on Friday. The sec I should qualify that the second graders read my books to me because they were that good at reading. Yes, I held it and they took turns and they read the books to me. So, that was super impressive. Big class,

039great teachers. And my prekers, they are excited about a book. So, I think that's a good sign. They like to be read to. So, way to go Thma Parks. And I'm sure all the others are doing that, but I just happen to be there and I wanted to brag on those teachers and those kiddos. They were great. All right. Anyone else have any conversation? >> I do. I just want to make a comment. Uh, I also read, excuse me, I also read to uh, Esparansa Elementary School. It was great. I enjoy reading to the kids. It's awesome. At the same time, I do encourage their or younger students to read every day because you only get to expand your vocabulary >> and your mind grows. So, keep reading whether it's in English or Spanish. Very

040important to read. Thank you. Okay. So, also good job on not just being on track, but 4%, right? I believe if I remember that correctly, I wrote that down. So, that's a that's stat statistically significant to grow that much in a short amount of time. Um, I hope we keep telling a bigger story with it. Thank you for showing us the systems. Um, uh, Lori. Um, okay. So, I am curious. Um, what surprises you the most about this greater than expected um, gain in improvement in the reading? >> I don't know if I'm the right one to take this, but I will say with this area, um, we didn't just start this work after the goal was set. Um this is uh to Chair Lewis's point, this is infrastructure work that we've been putting into

041place for years now. Um however, I was surprised that at the rapid ascension um you know when you when you break it down by students roughly 150 more students more first graders reach that 70th percentile threshold. uh which means that students are accelerating rapidly exceeding their projected growth. And if this trend continues throughout the rest of first grade through 2 grade through third grade, it puts our children in a great advantage uh and a great opportunity to be proficient um when they're they're taking their summitive in fourth grade. And so, uh, I was expecting the results to look more like a hockey stick, a little bit, um, gradual growth on the front end with more rapid growth on the back end, but pleasantly surprised. Um, and then part of me is not surprised. We have

042amazing teachers and amazing students and amazing instructional coaches and principles that are committed to this work and have really grounded in it. So, um, I don't know. I don't know if I gave you an adequate answer, but uh I was I was not expecting the rapid growth like we like we achieved. So, it was um pretty phenomenal to see, >> right? Um I do you want to go? >> Uh no, great job, guys. This is incredible. This is so exciting. There's a little saying that I like to say, which is uh readers s leaders. Um in other words, readers are leaders. And so I mean it was really really great to see all the pictures from across uh the district that just seeing people come in and read to kids or being read to by

043kids over there. And that was great. Um and also I did want to say um yes just great job for being so transparent and open um being clear about our wins and of course where else we can improve. I had a question that I asked um in advance that was about seeing the data broken down into English learner students versus non-English learner students. And it's great to see that the growth for both was the same uh or very similar very similar 7.1% versus 7.2%. And and this is just a testament to the fact that um the strategies being employed can be effective in any classroom. So thank you for that. And um I did want to ask a specific question. Can we ask those questions? Okay. Um so I asked a question. Can you explain

044what direct supports have been given to educators to help them collect data or implement assessments that have been working? And I the answer I got was kind of like the assessments. So the NWA, MAP, MAP reading, fluency and classroom checks. But is I I was asking more specifically, are there any trainings to teachers on how to implement these uh using the how how to use the NWA? >> That's a great question. Thank you so much. Um we have off we offer a lot of training to our teachers for um because Reading Horizons is a new program for a lot of our schools this year. We had training for all teachers at the very beginning of the year in August to kick off our um our new curriculum. Um we also have jobalike days built into

045our school calendar. So on those days we bring teachers together that are same grade level and teach them how to look at their data. Um just um many opportunities they are working with their instructional coaches and their um instructional leaders in their buildings to learn how to pull that data. every one of our instructional coaches has been trained as a reading horizon's leader and they know how to pull the data so that they're looking at it um consistently. Um lots of training has happened. Yes, not just NWA data, but learning how to look at our reading horizon skill check data and apply it and compare it with our NWA data. So that's another piece of it. It's not just looking at one thing, but how are we triangulating data so that we can see the

046whole child and what their specific skill deficits might be? >> Thank you. That's a great segue to my next question, which is um I saw that we saw I saw that we have reading horizons and also the HM curriculum. Yes, sir. >> Can you explain a little bit why we need both? >> I can. So, um our HMH into reading is our core curriculum. Um what we noticed through um some of the expertise of uh Tanya Layman, who is a reading specialist and our reading intervention coordinator is that the phonics section in HMH into reading um was not um explicit enough. Um it did not follow a path that was appropriate for students as um Tanya knows as being a reading specialist. So we were able to look at that and say we're going to

047need something else because our data was just showing that our kids were still struggling in phonics and phmic awareness. Um so we had to look at a supplemental program and so reading horizons was going to give us exactly what we needed in a scripted explicit phonics phmic awareness um program. So that's why we chose something additional to add to our reading program. >> Thank you. I'm I'm smiling because this is making me really happy. Paula and the entire district. Like I I feel like I want to learn how to read again. But what's funny about it is I learned how to read in OKCPS in at James Buchanan. So, thank you guys. >> Thank you, Lori. >> No, I think that I I feel like Jessica covered my covered my questions. And um I I

048did have a question that actually Alicia um covered about the and if you could just give a little more around the project that that context is really important and helping to understand how we're learning from what's going on in the six schools currently and how it will impact maybe a strategy districtwide or just for the future. >> Yeah. So again, um we were made aware of some grant money that was on the table through the state department and we decided, hey, we've heard about high dosage t tutoring being kind of an upand cominging research-based practice that really can have an impact on struggling readers. So we looked back across our data and we really targeted um a group of EL students. So we we took a specific slice of where our data was showing that

049we had some students not quite where we expected or hoped for them to be. Um so in that data we identified where are these students that are struggling the most? Where do they attend school? So that's how the six schools were then identified. Um and then um the high dosage tutoring is 20 sessions um over a period of time and there's been four sessions that we've ran. Um so we started just after Christmas. Cartina. >> Uhhuh. >> We started just after Christmas was our first session. Um we're right now about to finish this session before spring break and enter one third session. So there'll be three concurrent sessions that we've run to target students. Um and they're flexible sessions. So as students have made gains, um a student could exit project lift testing, I mean

050tutoring, because now they're where they need to be and create a slot for other students that need to be plugged in. Um we identified teachers who were interested and then we explicitly trained them. Um we used the grant money to bring in a training program and a platform to give them some intensive training off contract. We paid those teachers for that training. Um and then they're deploying that. And so that along with um a district site administrator who's tracking the data and feeding it back to us. So sight by sight, we can look at this small group of students that we've targeted and say, are they growing at a more accelated rate than our students who are not currently participating in a project cohort? And right now they're showing some really promising strong gains. So

051we're looking at how does that become sustainable? How do we take that on and expand that to be a district model? Um, of course that needs a funding source, but one of the funding sources we've identified as a possibility are title one dollars as we move into next year. So, we're building some structures to be able to provide to principles. What does that look like for you to also have a program like Project Lyft and do a targeted group of students at your school? >> Yeah. Was the state grant 12 months or one school year? >> Um, it was actually a lump sum. Um, and we had to ask for what were the things that we wanted. So, this was really an idea from scratch. I pulled some people together and said, "Hey, what about

052this? Give me some input." Another portion of that grant that we haven't talked about here is going to be a curriculum audit. Um, we think we're pretty good at curriculum. Um, but there's better, right? There are experts who have been year trained in how to write and assess curriculum. So, part of that grant also came with some money to do a curriculum audit. So, we're doing a curriculum audit of our elementary curriculum, second, third, and fourth grade, to tell us, are we getting it right? Are our district assessments, are our pacing guide, and all of our things aligned um with our state assessment so that we're giving students just what they need right on time to be able to perform at the levels we would hope that they would perform. >> Thank you. >> Yes,

053ma'am. >> Yes, Dana. >> First of all, congratulations. That's amazing, Dr. Pulk, your your team, every all the teachers. That's amazing. And secondly, I just would like to say thank you for paying the teachers for the extra training that they're going through because we ask so much of the teachers and it seem I know that they they feel like we're just, you know, keep adding more and more and more and more all the time and I I thank you for doing that for the teachers. That's great. >> Absolutely. We wanted the best of the best and that was part of the criteria of who we selected. Um so we have to pay them for being the best of the best. >> Yes. Anyone else? >> Yes. >> If they're about to wrap up, I do

054want to take a moment and say a very special thank you to the team for uh coming forward and presenting. Also want to look out in the audience and say a very special thank you to Tanya Layman, our reading intervention uh coordinator, and Dr. Aaron Hillhouse, our ELA coordinator. But without being too mushy here, I really want to say thank you to the board. This is hard work, but it's the right work. And so, just as you all have set the goals and you have allowed us to do the interim goals, this is the work. And I look forward to the 4A when we go to actually looking at what we're going to abandon, what we're going to align. that work is yet coming. Uh, and this will be the data that we could use

055to determine what we keep and what we do not. So, I want to say a very special thank you to the board for taking the risk, the chance of doing something different. This is different, but it's exciting when everyone is all in because we're all in because we're here for kids and this is the benefit of us doing hard things because we can. I just want to say thank you. You're welcome. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Okay. So I think now before we make a motion if there are any other comments there's not but we do need to deliberate on what the motion's going to be. Sure. I'll let Lori drive that. >> Sure. I I'll kick it off. And so just everyone is aware this was feedback from our coaches after our last monitoring session

056that we are really supposed to have the conversation and then we're supposed to deliberate about the monitoring report. So, we're really not supposed to just go straight into a motion, vote it, and move on. So, I'll kick off the deliberation. Um um so I thought it was an excellent monitoring report. Really, really appreciated it. And um it was very comprehensive and easy to follow. Um I would like I because I think this was a um something I raised in the last one and again in this one is that when we have PI well I shouldn't say the grant-f funed high dosage tutoring being at six sites when it's represented in the monitoring report I think adding that would be helpful because we get the monitoring report without the context that you provide here at the

057dis so when we're getting it to prepare our tactical and technical questions. I wouldn't have asked the question I asked if in the monitoring report there had been a little more detail that it's grant funded which when Alicia said that I was like oh yes I now I remember but I wasn't connecting the grant funding with project and then also the fact that it's at six sites is helpful and I think there was something in the last monitoring report that when I read it I thought it was districtwide but it was in Spencer totally fine but I do I think it would be it would basically eliminate a step between getting the monitoring report and the technical tactical and so that's my my feedback on this report. But >> thank you. >> Overall, yeah. >>

058Yeah, I would I mean agree on the pilot piece of it, but we do pilots in this district all the time and I think sometimes we just don't say that like the the IT schools in the beginning were pilot schools. I mean that so there's several that we do that and we do that to be fiscally responsible with money to make sure that we're not going all in on something that's not going to work. But I do think that would be something worth just holding up especially as we go through the budget alignment of why things have to come off or come on and it's so that we can but then also that piece of like how do you let the board know that that one just didn't work. I mean and and these are

059working clearly because we were on track but if you were off track we would expect to have seen that hey we tried this pilot not doing what we needed to do. We're try to go somewhere else on that one. So, I mean, those are just opportunities to So, it was very right on Lor's statement there. But for me, I thought it was a great report. I loved having the uh extra speakers to just give us more of the depth of it mo and not even if the board necessarily was wanted to hear, but I think it's great that the community gets to hear the details of what is going on every day and acknowledge what the teachers are facing every day and and how successful they're being in order to get a little girl from

060Willoughbrook in the 91st percentile. I mean, there's some good work happening the good work happening out there. So, that's that's my piece of the deliberation. Anyone else want to add or any suggestions? Yes, Jessica. >> Thank you, Chair Lewis. I really believe that OKCPS is doing something wonderful. And I mean, I'm I'm thinking about how do you walk when there is no path? Well, you create your own. And seeing this report was super refreshing. I think it was a wonderful they did a wonderful job at just being pretty thorough at explaining um some of our supports where we're lacking and where we could improve. I did also want to follow up kind of on Lor's comment talking about maybe I I would like to see a little bit more charts and physical data if that's

061possible. Uh it's kind of hard to decipher though and figure out what exact data. But for example, when I asked that English learner um question versus the non-English learner student question, I did like that little chart. And so just seeing those physical numbers were really helpful. But other than that, I did enjoy the breath and also how you also included the teacher surveys. I think that was a wonderful touch as well. And I saw that Dana asked a question specifically about educators and ensuring that they are okay with um implementing this and if they have any supports and I'm seeing that you guys are trying really hard to pinpoint exactly um who needs help and how they need help with all with different layers of support. So great job on that. Great job on ensuring

062that uh we the board is informed in the different curriculum and just exactly what is happening. I think that was what was really clear to me is that we we do have some support systems available for everybody involved and continue on that pathway, please. Nope. All right. So, who wants to make a motion to accept the report? We need a We need a motion. Okay. Jessica Swintes will move that we accept the monitoring report. I'll Mike's making a second. Okay. And if there's no further discussion, we'll call the vote. Is that good? Craig, I accidentally exited out of my four dogs. >> Just >> no problem. Member Suentes, I will. Would you like to vote I nay? >> Yes. I >> voting I for Jessica Suentes. >> Thank you. It's loading. I'm not sure what's

063happening. >> Not a problem. Having received seven I votes and zero nay votes, the motion carries. >> Thank you. That brings us to 4.02 operations committee report. Vice Chair Bowman. >> Sure. We were scheduled to have an operations committee meeting this week, but because of the training, the all day trainings that the cabinet attended, um, uh, Deborah was kind enough to send us a a great email updating us on, um, basically using the agenda of our committee meeting. Um so she updated us on several things that are on our consent agenda tonight um regarding some change um changes on um different construction bond related construction pro projects. Um we briefly or she gave a overview of some um properties like what's going on with 900 Klein um and some information on the Mclofflin uh family

064stadium. The OKCPS team is still working with the city um regarding some drainage capacity um issues and I think that was it unless and that report did that get blind copied to everybody does the whole board have it or can they get that the your report from operations committee I don't know if that went to everybody for blind copy just for them to have the same information >> sure is >> the mic on is it on? >> Yes. >> Is it green? >> Was Yes, it is green. Okay. Okay. Hi, board chair, vice chair, board members, Dr. Pulk. The report was sent to the four members of the committee. Okay. If you would like for us to send it through, I can work with Craig to that. Yes. Send that report to the full board.

065>> Please do that. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Okay. That is that on the end of yours? >> Yes. >> Okay. There's no nothing on operations. We'll move to Jessica for policy committee report. >> Thank you, Chair Lewis. I am excited to share that the policy committee meeting we met twice this past month um and before since since the last meeting uh February 11th and March 4th of 2026 with considerable progress. So the policy committee is currently in the phase strictly on categorizing policies into the following categories which are to retain at the board level to delegate to administration to remove to revise later and or to clean up these policies. The committee has categorized all se all all series of A and B policies for a total of 24 policies

066categorized out of the 185 in the district. I have definitely been assigning board homework. So, thank you to everybody in the committee for doing their homework and for also engaging in just insightful and very refreshing conversations regarding the policies. I also wanted to uh really just recognize the legal staff for their time and guidance. The committee has been pretty in alignment in agreement with the recommendations of our expert legal legal staff here in Oklahoma City Public Schools and they have done really well with keeping track and record of our decisions. If anyone on the board would like to see specific details of our progress, whether you are on the committee or not, please let me know. We do have a live spreadsheet with our progress that also compares kind of how the committee thought about

067the policies versus how the legal team has been thinking about them. And if you are on the committee, you do already have access to this. Again, thank you to all of those on the committee for being patient with me as we are figuring out our systems on how to just get through these policies and refresh them. Tony has already sent out our homework for the next series, series C. So, please take a look at that if you're able to before our next policy committee meeting. And does anybody have any questions? >> Statement. You did a great job running those meetings. Just thought I'd share. >> Yeah, the people were trying to fight. No, no, I'm just kidding. No, they weren't. Thank you, Mike. No, thank you for being there. I do really really appreciate your

068insight and your expertise and experience. >> Anybody else? >> Much gracias. >> Uh thank you. Gracias. >> Okay, then we'll move on. Thank you, Jessica. Right. That bring uh recognize Clint Everhard. He's our executive director of finance and he's going to introduce our auditors to make a brief presentation on the audit report. Good evening, Board Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Bowman, honorable uh board members, and Superintendent Dr. Pulk. Um, as an accountant, I can say accountants as a group are usually not known for being really excited or emotional about things, but nothing is quite as exciting as being able to say, "Our annual financial audit is completed and can be presented tonight for you guys to approve." >> Good job. >> Um, for completing it. I think it's exciting >> for before I introduce the two

069wonderful ladies behind me here from our uh auditing firm Fervis Mazars I just want to say it does take a team to get the audit done. It touches a lot of different departments. We have individuals from finance, HR, legal, IT, risk management, operations, um, federal programs, and I'm sure I'm missing several, but, uh, on behalf of CFO Sydney Ward and myself, we just really want to say thank you to our team, um, for everyone helping to work to to get this accomplished. And with that, I will uh, introduce to you our auditing firm. This is the first year that we worked with them. And I can say we were very pleased. It couldn't have gone better. Um they did a great job from start to finish with communication with helping us to meet our deadlines

070that we need to meet. And so for a first year audit where there's sometimes challenges just getting to know each other couldn't have gone any better. With that, I'll introduce Robin D'vor and Haley Redwine from the uh Forvis Mazar's firm. >> Thank you. Welcome. >> Thank you, Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Bowman, board members, Dr. Pulk, we appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today. Um, and I would also like to say thank you to your uh district staff. As as Clint indicated, first year audits can can be a little bit uh nerve-wracking. We ask a lot of questions. We're trying to understand how the district operates specifically. So, they were very patient and kind to us and we appreciate uh all of them being being very good as far as answering questions and doing

071so timely. I'm just going to cover a little bit of the uh the overview of the audit process and then I'm happy to answer any questions if anybody would have any. So, we did prepare our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as well as government auditing standards and you should have received a copy of the financial statements. We did place an unmodified or clean opinion on those financial statements. That means that we believe that they are materially correct in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. That's that's the opinion that you want. Um, we did also audit your compliance with federal programs. Specifically, we looked at Title One and the special ed cluster and we did not have any uh reportable items from a compliance standpoint there either. >> Um, we also look at

072internal control. Now, we're not placing an opinion on internal control, but we are looking to see whether um you know what the controls are at the district and how those may impact how the financials are pulled together as well as compliance. Um we did have one issue that we noted, this was noted in your prior audit as well as well and it relates to individuals with access within your financial system. You have some individuals who have what we would term elevated access. uh that may be not necessarily uh consistent with their job duties. Now, in the prior year, that was considered a material weakness. Um we actually did some additional testing this year to see whether anyone violated or used that additional access. We did not note anything along those lines and we also tested

073your compensating controls around that. And so, while the situation still exists, we do not believe that it's a material weakness in your internal control system. um as you are as the district is implementing a new ERP system in the coming coming year, that's probably an area to look at um as it's being implemented to make sure that um any additional access is aligned with with job duties as it goes forward. That's a very high overview. Anybody have any questions or anything you would like me to address specifically? That's maybe one of the more detailed audit f reports I've heard whole time sitting this seat and I've been here a minute. So, thank you for that. Like you actually gave us some real life tangibles there. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for uh coming

074on and taking on the task of OKCPS because I know it's a big one, but we appreciate you on that. Anyone else have any comments? No. All right. Thank you guys very much. I appreciate you. All right. Um, see, I'll make a motion to accept the fiscal year 2025 audit report. Is there a second? >> Second. >> If there's no further discussion, call the vote. having received seven I votes and zero nay votes, the motion carries. >> Thank you. That brings us to 5.01. 5.01 and 5.02 board members are for information agenda only. Future board action would be requested in the future. The first one we recognize Tony Childers uh information on board policy D-15 bond citizens oversight committee. If anybody has any questions on the suggested changes or comments I I think I have

075the the question that I have about the um draft is from there's just been a lot of back and forth on this so I'm trying to get my head around the the most recent update. So if applications go out and or come in and there is no qualified like you have a rubric of at least that's how it worked previously and if no qualified applications are received for a specific district the seat remains vacant from your perspective the application remains open and the work of the committee moves on. >> That's correct. It it leaves it open so that the application process remains. Uh the committee would continue to meet to find an appropriate uh applicant and to get them put into the position based on the recommendation and approval by the board. >> Okay. So,

076is that something that the board is going to be okay with is if district 7 doesn't have anybody who sits in district 7 that the committee's meeting for oversight and there's no district specific coverage. >> Yes, Mike. Uh I just uh of course as you know this has been one of issues that I have uh been concerned about but this is not rocket science and I don't think necessarily qualified I mean there's no qualification to be a school board member and I don't know why we would ask anybody to have some great qualifications if we're able to appoint that person. Why they have to have some great qualification deeper than what we're required to have. Now, we want people to be competent. We want people to be helpful. Uh but I hope uh that we're

077not so stringent that the board has the ability to kick off somebody from district 7. I won't be I mean district 5. I won't be able to appoint that. But uh Miss Dismuk when she gets that opportunity to appoint that person to district 5, whether she wants to name Dr. such and such or doc archite architect such and such or if she just wants to name a neighborhood president to be her her her appointee, she should have that right to keep her informed as well as the school district. those people at the very the the the very least of qualification should be the same one we have to take on the very important role to be school board members. >> Well, I appreciate your point on that. I disagree with that because the board members

078a voice for the community not necessarily an expert on budget and when you're looking at oversight versus planning oversight we I mean because I'm not that person to look at bids or budgets or contracts or anything else that would hold us on path where the taxpayers have already voted for what they want the money spent on and that was represented throughout the whole entire district and would always be in a bond planning process. But there's no appointment in the seat. I'm also confused about that because this policy as it sits does not offer appointments. It offers applications that the committee would review the applications and then bring it to the board and the board would vote. So it's not an individual board member appointee. >> That's correct. Yes. >> Yeah. >> Let me let me

079just say this. We are not qualified to none of us I think but I'm not going to put that. Let me just say this is none of us are qualified to do uh uh this NE NWA but we've gotten in there in those committee meetings learned from the experts created rail uh guard rails goals and all of that. I don't know why people that are being appointed to this uh the board citizens oversight the bond citizens oversight committee can't have that same type of expectation to you're being asked to be on the part a part of this board do the work learn the work and be helpful to the board I don't think it again I don't think it's rocket science and and maybe I misunderstood Tony I thought it is allowing board members to

080appoint. >> No, it is uh members are select or members of the committee would be selected so that each board seat has someone from their geographic boundary but still the appointment would happen by a vote of the entire board. So there would still be representation tied to each seat but the actual appointment is done by a a vote of the board of education. Now repeat that last part that every district will be represented. >> There would be a member selected by the committee from each of the seat boundaries >> once they applied. So it's still an application process. >> That's correct. >> I don't uh necessarily have a problem. I just uh with the application process uh I have a problem with uh it's not rocket science. You're asking somebody from your district to be

081on the board on this board to ensure that your district is being represented to be the voice to be to to listen and to bring things back to you as well as your district. And so there's going to be disagreement. Uh and that's okay. That's what this process is all about. >> If if I can chime in on this one during the selection committee since um Carol is not here today. Um I love that the outgoing board members are the ones who are the most vocal on this policy that neither of us are going to have to live through. Um I I think Mike and I a little bit we disagree on the scope of this board and that's fine. Um this committee I think when we're going through the selection process they would be

082responsible for overseeing and monitoring the timeline, the budget, the compliance, some of the more technical nature aspects of administering a nearly billion dollar bond. So, I do think that some experience does merit um consideration. The other piece of this that I just want to call out um since this is new to our community and our district, I think a really concerted effort on the marketing and communication sides need to happen. Um I think that there was some confusion on what a complete application was. I think that there's confusion on what the um time commitment would be and so um just if we are going to lock it down to one person from each district as someone who did not get any completed applications in my district. Um, we just need to make a very concerted

083dedicated effort to recruiting people to applicate to to complete an application on this or else it's going to be six and seven will have no one there which is another risk. >> Yes, Mike. >> Thank you. Uh, Meg, I agree with you. Okay. I just need to make sure that that's clear. I agree with you uh that we need to make a a bigger effort in communication and I want to make sure that I make myself crystal clear is that we cannot put it in the journal record and expect it to touch our multi-racial community. We can't put it on uh we can't put it on the website or social media and expect it to touch our multi-racial community. you have to put it in the community's newspapers that read that that newspaper. So, I

084want to make sure that we're doing that with a real effort to touch those communities. So, I want to make sure that I agree I want to tell you I agree with you on that part. On that part. No, I'm just joking. I I I I uh I agree with you. I want to uh also say is that what cons more than anything I don't have a problem with every district being represented as a member of this board uh as a member uh as the next member comes on if she she has a responsibility to be in that district to identify people that qualify in that so that there is proper qualification My disagreement today is specifically having this board reject anybody, the best qualified person that might apply even though they might not be

085qualified to you all. Did I I want to make sure that that's I did you follow me? I don't want the board to be able to reject a district five representative, although they may not look qualified to you, but the community may see them as qualified or be willing to hear what they have to say. So, you're talking about somebody on the board that has an ear and a voice, but if the board votes against that person, your district is not uh included at all. So I choose for representation. >> Okay, that's fair. I choose for expertise in the matter of money because money is the one thing this board's responsible for and we have to have an independent oversight committee. The planning piece has to have the community's voice. The community's already given us

086the voice because they said, "Here's the $955 million. These are the projects that we voted on in the resolution. Now, we got to make sure people can make sure the district did it. And the we need a committee, any member on that committee needs to be able to ask hard questions because if they don't ask hard questions and for whatever reason, we just got a great audit. So, I'm not saying we're not doing it right. I'm just saying it's our responsibility as a board. I don't want in eight years when I'm not on this board anymore to all of a sudden the daily Oklahoma being what? Okay, CPS, their oversight committee didn't do a good job and we didn't spend the bond money the way we should spend it because that is the danger when

087we put people in a position. There's lots of positions out there and there's highly qualified. It is not a matter of district 5 not having somebody who understands budget construction and finance. Be clear on that. There's somebody out there who does. We just need them on the oversight committee to be an expert on it. But there's someone out there who does for sure and in District 7 and in district six. And I just want to make sure that I don't disagree with you. I want to make sure that it's as much as the board's responsibility to improve uh communication to make sure that every district's knows about what's going on. It's important that each board member is engaged in their district to identify people to have them apply for those positions. However, I absolutely emphatically

088disagree and my position will not will not change, but it will change from this position here to down on that that floor to speak at that microphone right there that I emphatically disagree that if that we have the ability to disregard a district because the board does not feel like that they were qualified. We just went from not appointing anybody from district 7, not a district, not appointing district anybody from district 5 where we felt we had to go out to Western Heights to find somebody to come serve on these boards. And so I want to make sure that we find those qualified people. I want to work with this board to continue to do that. I want to work with uh Miss uh Miss Dishmuk to make sure that she identifies the right person

089for district 5 and any other board member. Uh but >> I just want to clarify real quick that board member is not an issue. It's a committee and I just want to clarify the public because I don't want them to be confused. We're not appointing board members. It's on a board committee for oversight. So I just want to make sure that the language is correct. That's all it >> it my language is correct. >> It's not a board member. We're not appointing a board member. I I want to make sure that my board my language is correct. I want to make sure that the person on this committee, board member, committee member, whatever you want to call it, bonded citizens oversight committee, something that we've been going through for three months because we tried to

090cheat the system. The fact is is that every district should be represented on that board and it need you need to make sure that we give grace and latitude to ensure that everybody's on there to ensure that one through uh district one district one through district 7 is on there and it is uh uh and every Yes, that's that's what I'm going to say, >> Madam Chair. Yes. Awesome. Thank you Mike for that and thank you everybody for that. Um I I just wanted to listen in and see kind of what what uh we needed to look at for this specific policy. Um so I did want to just kind of go over what some of the changes are. So first of all um some districts may be over represented um because we will be

091having nine members with this specific committee and so one each district is going to have their own member. So, we are trying to fix that, Mike, with this uh with the new language in this in this policy. And so, the chair will also get one and then we're going to have another one that's at large. And so, that could create an issue where there's um over representation from maybe one or two different districts. So, if you guys noticed um in the process of figuring out who gets what term, most of it is random. We wanted to stagger those terms for the over represented districts. So that that's really what some of that language was about. Um but in terms of if a district doesn't have maybe a complete application, which we already went through and

092we already saw that sometimes the applications weren't submitted completely or fully and and I would say that the board committee for this bond citizens oversight committee was very reasonable when it came to finding qualified individuals. I don't think that uh the committee at all um was not being reasonable. And so I know we're we're not going to find an exact candidate that may be exactly qualified and knows so much about these bonds. We might not find that candidate, but I think what the committee has been trying to do is finding best is trying to be to find the best candidate for these positions. Um, however, what I didn't really consider was that in trying to keep the application process open to fill maybe a seat that didn't have any complete applications, that does mean that

093maybe the the committee for the board might have to continue to meet. So, I did have the question for you guys, which is, does anybody have any suggestions on just how to best tackle incomplete applications from any subd district? I while you're thinking about that I the chair does not need we're not a district the chair is not a district it should be seven districts if y'all are going that route >> okay >> and then the chair and the superintendent appoint a chair is typically so that would only be eight people >> okay >> so there's no reason >> perfect >> I mean because again I don't believe that district representation matters in this particular instant it matters desperately in planning >> okay >> it always matters Okay. Okay. So, we can look at doing

094that. Paula, thank you so much. So, instead of nine, it would be eight members and then so that that eight member would be appointed by the superintendent and >> yes, >> chair. Okay. >> I think it was addressed I'm sorry, >> applied. Sorry, go for it. Yes. >> I think it was addressed slightly is that we maybe need to push this more out into the public and let everybody know what's available and what we're looking for and what we want them to do. just um I don't remember seeing anything about it when we initially went out looking for people. So maybe that's something we could do to help. >> Yes, I agree. >> So expectations or of qualifications, is that what you mean? >> Yes. >> Or what what the job is or what the

095leadership role is. >> I think it was mentioned be more specific specific about the time restraints and the qualifications and um that type of thing. Can I ask a question and and absolutely I'm being messed okay I just need to make sure that that is clear is if represents the representation doesn't matter and we come out with an eight member male board uh does will we have to go back and re revisit that if we come out with a board that come has no Latino brothers and sisters on the board and our district is 60% Latino. >> It's a committee. It's not a board. >> I apologize. Let me make sure that I'm correct with my words >> because the board does matter in representation and this board is tremendously >> it all it all

096represent it all matters and and that's what my point is is that it all matters. Representation matters because it's all public dollars. It's all taxpayers dollars from all parts of this community and they deserve to be represented. And I'm just asking if representation doesn't matter if we get a eight member all male board, does it matter? If we have no Latinos on it, does it matter? If we have no blacks on it, does it matter? If we have no women on it, does it matter? It does matter. And I think that we need to be very intentional with those things in mind. Okay. >> Anyone else? >> All right. This comes up for vote next. It'll go on to uh action. >> Well, I think we need to get Tony. Um clarify because if we're

097changing it from a nineperson board to an eight person board, it will does it >> what what's the what's the status of it? So in in prior discussions with the board or in prior policies typically if there's been a substantial change to the policy it's come back as information such as today uh there was a change after the policy committee met on February 11th and these were the changes that the policy committee had suggested. Um so those changes were made which then brought it back for an information item. So traditionally the way we've treated that is if there's been a substantial change we bring it back as an information item not as vote. Uh but the policy is not clear one way or the other. Uh but the the policy just says that any policy

098that is approved first has to go to the board for information item uh before an action. But typically the way we've treated that is a substantial change would start the information process over. >> But we could if if no other change was made except the nine is an eight. Theoretically we could bring it for action next board meeting. >> I think essentially we could. Yeah. again because it's not it's not laid out particularly in the policy uh how many times if it's changed or what the substantial level is. I was just looking about what our pra previous practice has been but we certainly could bring it as an action item at the next meeting. >> Do people have views on that? >> I think it would make it clear. So it would actually take out

099some of the other language with the terms the staggering terms for over represented districts. >> I thought the terms were going to be staggered a little bit like two three like different lengths of it. Okay. So, for example, if we have in this eight member committee, two of the members will be in the same district have to be. They would have to be because they live in the district. That eighth appointed person would live in the district. So, just ensuring that those two people in that same district have a staggered term. So, one has a three or a two or one term. Um, and then yeah, so that's really that's all that's establishing. So that not a those two people don't both serve a three-year term. >> It actually says that on page if I'm

100>> Yes. So I think it would clarify becoming an eight committee member uh or having an eight member committee would take out some of that extra language because having a nine member committee makes it a little bit more complicated. So it would clear it up a little bit more. Does that so that change? >> No, that that isn't that that's not really >> Yeah, I don't think that's substantial. Yeah, it's >> the point is it's going to be clear. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Okay. Information only recognize Jason Mack, executive director of workforce development and charter schools. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, Vice Chair Bowman, members of the board, and Dr. Pulk. Uh, my name is Jason Mack. I'm acting as the charter schools coordinator

101tonight. Um, back in the fall, we had a renewal for Harding Charter Prep. And so, we did all of that work. We had a fully executed, um, contract in November. Um, but in their long-term plan, they had always planned to add a second elementary to their uh, network. And so, um, tonight we are, uh, getting information from, uh, Steven Savanic about that second elementary so that way we can revise their contract and bring that back to you for your, um, approval at a later date. So, without further ado, I will welcome Stephen Sick. >> Welcome, Superintendent. >> He's got to be so tall. Sorry about that. Well, good evening, board. Board Chair Lewis, um, Dr. Pulk, good to see you again. Really excited to uh lighten the mood a little bit, have some fun, talk

102about Harding Charter Prep. Um, as you see on the screen there, um, that's actually a time um, where board chair Jessica actually read to our kindergarten class. Skyler was very in tuned to her reading to the class as that was a spark to the start of this conversation. Um, and then I always have to give a shout out to one of my biggest cheerleaders, uh, my son. and one of my sons is behind me that's on my phone, but he's also ah you're one of my cheerleaders, too. But my kids are first. Um, and also one of our students, so I'm glad to have him be here. He did previous say that he one day wanted to be a Harding superintendent. I don't know if he want to do it after tonight, seeing what some

103of the things you have to do with that job. So, we'll see. Is this a clicker by chance? Okay. >> All right. So, let's talk a little bit about where we have been uh where we'd like to go for our future. So, just real quick timeline. In 1999, uh we were actually uh the first charter school in the state of Oklahoma, Independence Charter Middle School. Before that, it was Independence Enterprise uh middle school located in the same location as today that served 6th through 8th grade. Um parents opened up that school uh with the Oklahoma Charter Act initiation. A few few years later, as you can imagine, those same parents wondered where their kids would go to high school and they opened up originally named Independence Charter High School, uh, but moved into the old

104Harding High School in 33rd and Chartell Avenue and wanted to name it after the great legacy of Harding High School in the 1960s. um long period happened and we merged those two district or schools, Independence and Harding Charter Prep uh with the Pathway to Greatness initiative of fifth grade moving into the middle school grade bands. Uh and then some legalities run contracts and things to make that a little easier. Um and so that's where I was appointed as the superintendent. Um I've been at Harding now for 15 years. Started off as a math teacher at the high school. Uh but as you can see, our timeline has quickly uh gained momentum. So in 2023, we quickly expanded to fifth grade to support Oklahoma City's initiative with fifth grade and middle school. Um and two years

105later, I was requested to take over an abandoned property that had some um let's just say uh bad memories happen on that property to open up an elementary school. And we've had great success. And I'll talk about that success in a second. And so, uh, going forward, we request for you as a board to allow us to expand, um, our our proven model to open up a second elementary school in fall 27. It says 28 here. That's school year 28. So, just to give that clarity. Um, that gives us a year of planning and then a year of um, implementing it. Um, so that's where we're requesting from you today. So, why now? Why do we want to replicate? I'll talk about four points this evening of why that's really important to us. Number one,

106we have data to show that applications continue to increase showing demand for enrollment. Um the worst thing that I can say to a parent is I don't have a space for you. Um that is a a terrible thing to say to a prek, kindergarten, or first, second, third, or even fourth grade. Our weight list continues to increase limit limiting opportunities for choice. Uh we want to solidify a feeder pattern. We want to make sure that all the kids that start with us can continue with us all the way through preK through 12. Uh and then we have a proven model to drive student academic success that we've talked about previously. Uh so here are new student applications this the last three years uh for that new school that's just only been open for three years.

107Um you'll see that for each grade level real quickly, especially for prek and kindergarten is rapidly grown in applications. Uh just to keep in mind the next slide I'll talk about spaces we have for these applications. Currently they are lower for the other grades especially for fourth grade. Well actually we don't even have fourth grade yet. Uh so that's why they were lower the first two years but they were dramatically went up because we are opening fourth grade starting next year. Uh but here's the sad part on the next slide. Fourth grade has zero spots available. Uh so meaning that 100% of those applications will sit on a wait list. In fact, um, good news for us. 100% of our current 164 families in Roner Elementary have all already told us they will reenroll for

108next year. Um, that is a great uh initiative for retention, but that is a negative for weight list numbers, meaning that these families don't have a choice. Uh, you'll even see in preK 109 applications. We only have 44 slots. Uh, meaning that 65 are currently on the wait list. uh and 44 has already filled up. I'll just tell you that. Um so the demand is there. So that's our item number two of why we need to expand to give those seats. Our third reason is a prek feeder pattern. You'll see on the left and what our current feeder pattern would be. Our current elementary school, if you've ever been to that property where it is, it's very hard to maneuver on that property. It's unique in some ways, but limited in classroom spaces. So only

109will have 48 seats when it moves from fourth grade to fifth grade to our middle school. Uh you'll see a giant gap then. So 48 kids going to a middle school that holds 120 seats. There's a large gap on continuality um for that middle school. And then obviously there is a smaller gap from our middle to high school um options as well. But you'll see on the right side we can solidify that issue with an expansion of another elementary school. Um there are 138 seats going into a middle school. we have room to grow at the middle school, so it's not a problem of adding additional seats there. That gets us even closer to those high school numbers to make sure it's a solidified feeder pattern. And our last reason is our academic achievements. I'm

110really proud of this. Um our you can see our high school obviously at the top um has been an A um in the state of Oklahoma set for one year got us, but we quickly fixed that issue. Um, and this is actually the four-year trend of us merging two schools together. Uh, you'll see what really that stuck out for me is the middle school at the bottom. That trajectory of growth where it was for three years quickly going up to a C and actually the data we have from last year um is worse than the data we have now. So, we expect that C to go even higher. The possibly maybe a C or even a B. We're going to get real close to it. Um, right now the elementary school does not have a

111letter grade. It does. It has third grade this year. My son is in third grade. He will be one of those students. Uh but we're predicting that it will be a B or a C based on the outcomes we have on NWA today and the outcomes we have in the city of Oklahoma City. Uh so we're really excited about these results. Um that C at the middle school puts us at one of the top middle schools in the OKCPS portfolio. Uh same with the elementary school and then obviously the high school has been one of the top for a very long time. The question I get a lot is where where is uh the elementary school location? And I will say due to some boards um signing non-disclosure agreements, I can't definitely tell you exactly

112where, but I can tell you kind of an idea of where that would be. Uh but you'll see it's pretty close in the range of our current three sites. Uh the left star on the far left is the current middle school site and then the elementary currently in the high school is on the far right corner. Um this is where our second elementary school uh will most likely be. Um exciting news for us. While I can't share that um yet, uh we do have full funding to support uh through financial dollars to support a uh uh building acquisition, which I know is extremely hard for charter schools on a lack of bonding uh that we can't do. So, we're really excited about that and can't wait to actually announce it if you all approve this

113expansion. Something we're really excited about um with this campus uh we will be launching our own um that means that it is a longevity in our budget pipeline uh through partnerships and our own board. Uh this new campus will be now what's called our teacher apprenticeship campus. Um every single classroom will have a teacher apprentice or what we call a teacher assistance. Um that will be given the opportunity for a full salary and benefits plus a free four-year degree. That means that we will be um creating 24 new certified teachers every four years. That is a goal for this new campus. We know that there's a need for quality teachers in the state of Oklahoma and especially in the city of Oklahoma City. And we want to build them right here. And thanks for partnerships

114with Edwell, OPS or Oklahoma Public School Resource Center. I should stay away from acronyms and some others, we've been able to make that where it's actually a 10-year plan of funding that we can do that for the longevity. So, really excited about that. and that launch is actually this spring. So, if anyone's interested, give us an application. Some things we put in place to make sure this school is up for success, even though it won't happen for another year from now, is number one, we know that um equity is so important for us. We want every single family to have a choice. And we also know that not every family has a choice when equity barriers come in play. Uh so, we are actually implementing uh one of the first shuttle systems at a charter

115school. So every one of our locations will have a school bus every morning to help families go from school to school because we know we're spread out and then every afternoon we will support those families going to after school programs such as the YMCA Boys and Girls Club that we've already committed um relationships with over time. Uh we already identified a potential school leader for next year um that will stay with us for one year in advance before they open the school. We're really excited to have her. um she has very experience um in the charter world. Her name is uh Vivian Garcia. Uh she will be a doctor after this summer. So we're excited to have her join our our school community. Um obviously I already talked about the established partnerships with the teach

116teacher apprenticeship program. And then lastly and the actions in place is that security funding for the facility at large. Um so my request not tonight you obviously this is information only but um poor chair Jessica there is a beautiful picture of you reading to those kids just to flip it backwards. Um but we are on a time crunch a little bit uh just to help if the board can uh there's an opportunity for me to get granted a $2 million grant to support initiatives to support charter school growth. Um, but the problem is is that amended contract must be submitted to that grant March 31st. After March 31st, we lose that opportunity of the $2 million grant. What does that mean for that school? That means that we get significant funding for things that are

117essential to open a school. Classroom furniture, technology. It pays for everything you can think of except for salaries, which would come out of our general operation budget. Other than that, I will um push back for any questions you may have. Oh, yeah. I So, Tony, we didn't weren't aware that we probably should had on this agenda a wave of first reading or something if he needs it by March 31st. >> Yeah, that wasn't anything that was presented to us. >> Yeah, Mr. Mr. Mac, I don't know if you have some additional information. I think that the process still requires that we put together a recommendation uh that comes before the board and it wasn't something based on the timelines that we were able to get for this particular board meeting uh to get an actual

118recommendation and get all the information reviewed uh prior to uh this board meeting on March 9th. >> All right. Well, okay. Let's visit about that a little bit in email because if I need to call like a special quick quum, you know, like a Friday at noon and see who I can get here to vote or something if we need to do that. When is the contract officially done? This partic because we're reopening the contract, right? So, when is this one through? >> We we just signed this contract. So, it's five years >> beginning July one of this year. Yes. >> Okay. Yes, Craig. >> Madam Chair, courtesy FYI, we do have a work session on the calendar on March 30. Just FYI. >> But are we already scheduled to use it? I mean, I

119don't know that. I know it's on the calendar, but that's that's why I didn't say that because I Yeah. >> Well, the other thing is I think we need to know from the superintendent if getting it approved on the evening of the 30th is going to be adequate for his application that's due the next day. So, if you I mean I mean you don't have to I'm that you're putting you on the spot, but you can either work with Mr. Mac or you can share with us um what the ideal timeline would be. >> Absolutely. I mean, obviously sooner the better, but I will say I've spoken to uh Jason Mack that as long as we get a signed document from uh Chair Lewis that amended contract comes in, I can submit it by midnight

120March 31st. >> Okay. >> So, as long as it gets in before midnight, I'll be okay. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> Um are we not able to vote for it today? like >> on the information agenda. So, it has to be there would have to be a possible action in order to have been open to meet open meetings and it doesn't say possible action. >> Could we well I don't know if this could we make a motion to >> they haven't yet? >> No, because the the action would be to approve the to approve the contract and that is not on the agenda. Uh the the item on the agenda right now is just for the presentation. Uh, so we don't have a valid item on the agenda that would allow

121you to vote tonight. >> Like the public didn't know about it, so we could have Okay. Okay. >> Yes. Thank you. >> So I could have we could have if we' have known there was a time put on there like before that a wave the first reading or something of that nature. >> Oh yeah, that's that's Yeah, but we had to have put that on the Okay. >> Unfortunately, but we can request a um recommendation coming out sooner than later. we can, you know, if we want to ask the superintendent to have the recommendation ready like right after spring break or something, then we could call I can start working on a polling of the meetings at that point. So, but we do have to have a recommendation in order to get that going. So,

122after spring break, like I'll start polling for some times over spring break after spring break. All right, we'll work on that. >> Thank you, board. Appreciate. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> And that is Mr. Luca, right? That's I've got the right name. That's Luca. >> Lincoln. Lincoln. Good to see you. The little brother's Luca, right? Got it. >> Okay. All right. We got through those. So, now we are to adopting 6.01. I get to read a resolution for to honor Meg Mhaney. Um, I'll read it first and then we'll ask for a motion in a second. So whereas Meg Mahhaney served with distinction on Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education from December 2019 through April 2026, first by appointment to the district 7 seat and subsequently by election in April 21

123and April 22. And whereas Mahini brought to the board a bachelor of arts and strategic communication from Oklahoma State University and valuable professional experience in public relations, advertising, political communication, media relations, and project management. And whereas Melhaney served as chair of the board's government affairs committee and as a member of the student experience and equity committee, the Capitol Hill high school task force and the bond citizens oversight appointment committee. And whereas as chair of the government affairs committee, Mhaney worked collaboratively with board members and district leadership to advocate for OKCPS legislative priorities and hosted the annual state of OKCPS legislative breakfast. And whereas Melhaney provided steady leadership and sound counsel to the board and district leadership during the COVID 19 global pandemic. And whereas Mhaney joined her colleagues in approving the 2020 five strategic plan,

124the great commitment together we rise, denouncing House Bill 1775, guiding the 2022 denial redistricting process and supporting the historic $955 million bond package approved by the voters in November of 2022. And whereas Mhane played an important role in the board's 2024 superintendent search resulting in the selection of Dr. Jamie Pulk. And whereas through her out her tenure, Mhaney demonstrated a strong commitment to student success through diligent preparation, thoughtful decision-making, and collaborations with family, staff, and community stakeholders. Now there therefore be it resolved that we the members of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education hereby recognize and honor Megan Mlehaney and express our sincere appreciation for her dedicated service and lasting contributions to the students and community of this district dated this 9th day of March 2026. You've been through a few things, Meg.

125And and I kind of felt bad that he put your whole name. I was like, I'm sounding like your mother saying Megan here. I'm sure no one else calls you Megan. >> It's a full government name. That was weird. Okay. You had any some words for us, Meg. Thank you for everything you've done. Pleasure serving. >> Um, that brought back a lot of memories and I'm just really proud of what we have accomplished for the city and for the school board. Um, and thinking back of just all of the other previous board members I served with and um, it's been a wild ride and thank you guys. >> Thank you for sharing her with us for us for the last seven years. Appreciate it. Okay, so is there a motion to approve the resolution for

126me? >> So moved. Second. I believe it was Mike was a second. And if there's no further comments, call the vote. Having received six eye votes and one abstension, the motion carries. >> Thank you. All right, that brings us to 6.02, 2 adopting a resolution honoring Mike Shelton. Vice Chair Bowman will read the resolution. >> Great. Thank you. Whereas Mike Shelton served with distinction on the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education from June 2024 through April 2026, appointed by the board to fill the district 5 seat, which had been vacated in the middle of the 2022 2026 term. And whereas Shelton served diligently as a member of the board's policies committee. And whereas Shelton brought to the board a master of arts in management and leadership from Webster University and a bachelor of science

127and agricultural economics from Langston University, as well as invaluable experience gained through his service as a representative in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives, as an OK governmental and community liaison, and as director of career services with Metro Technology Center, OKC, And whereas Shelton brought a steadfast and resolute approach to his role on the board, prioritizing student achievement and equity through careful preparation and collaborative engagement with families, staff, and community partners. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education hereby expresses its deep appreciation to Mike Shelton and recognizes his dedicated service and enduring contributions to the district, dated this 9th day of March, 2026. Six. >> Good luck. I thought you were going to talk to us a little bit. >> Oh, sorry. You know what? I thought you

128pushed your button, so I was quiet. I was >> Oh, no. I was just I was debating if I should even say anything. So, this my resolution passes. But, you know, I I uh also need to acknowledge uh uh just an update on my resume. I'm the executive director for Oklahomaans for Criminal Justice Reform and uh and my board chair is here. So, I don't want to act like uh uh that we left off OCJR. So, I love that organization. Um, I just want to uh thank everybody with the board for their kindness. I appreciate the debates. Uh, I appreciate uh everybody's willingness to uh stand up for for children uh in their own way. Uh that's part of this process and it's so important. I want to honor uh the next uh district 5

129uh board member, Verona Dismuk. She's with us today and you'll do an amazing job and I thank you uh for your willingness to uh run for this position. Uh, I appreciate the board for appointing me uh uh in in this role to uh finish the term of Adrien Anderson, an awesome individual. Uh, I just would like to wrap up with this is just with the recent passing and 5-hour funeral of Jesse Jackson, I just need to remind everybody that we are not here for it no reason at all. Our voice matters and your specific voice matters. And that's why I do what I do is to ensure that people voice is heard and I appreciate uh the latitude madame chair for uh you you taking me on. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank

130you. Thank you Mike. Thank you for serving. You gave up time and time is precious for sure. So thank you. Okay. Is there a motion to approve or to uh yeah approve uh Mike's uh resolution? >> So moved. >> All right. Second. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Well, once a second if there's no further discussion, call. >> Wait, I have something. I have something. >> Uh Mike, I have another knock-knock check for you. >> Okay, go ahead. Knock knock. >> Knock I'm asking you. Knock knock. >> Who's there? >> Mike who? >> Mike check. Was your mic on? >> I'm just kidding. Thank you. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I I just want to say to Meg and and to Mike, uh, thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your time. Thank you

131for the late Monday nights. Thank you for everything of uh yeah, just I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart and I'm going to miss you both. So, uh, good luck on your on your new job, Meg. Don't be a stranger. Come and see us. Mike, come and see us sometime. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else? All right. Call a vote. Having received six I votes and one abstension, the motion carries. Thank you. Okay, that brings us to the consent agenda. Is there um I do want to pull off 11.01 for discussion only for me. Is there any other member who wants to pull anything off to be discussed or voted on separately? Yes, Jessica. >> Yes. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Sorry, I had it ready and then I

132I couldn't find it. Uh, yes. So, you said 11.1 was the one that you >> 01. >> Okay. Yeah, for discussion. Could I do 12.04 for discussion only and 15.05 for separate discussion and vote, please? >> Which one is it? 15. What? >> 15.05. >> Okay. All right. Um, anyone else? Okay. So, I'll start. All I wanted to say on 11.01 1 it is it our fir it is our first guardra row monitoring these will always fall into consent agenda the board did receive that just for the public guard row one is the superintendent shall not fail to ensure that life skills life skills learning is incorporated into the student educational experience and there's one A b and c we won't read all those but that is what is in here um we had our

133ability to ask questions but this will be where guardrail monitoring exists but we can always pull it off if we need questions that's all I had on that does anyone else have Anything to add to that part or question? >> That 11.1 >> 01 sorry 11.01. >> Yes, that was it. >> Oh, perfect. Yes. Um, I did have a comment. I did really enjoy the thoroughess of this specific report because it did explain how the life skills that we are going to be trying to instill in our students was defined by the profile of a graduate. And so, uh, thank you guys for just ensuring that we understood what that was in this specific report and my questions were answered. So, >> great. Okay. So, that brings us to 12.04, Jessica. >> Yes. Can Can

134I still ask a question about it? >> Uh, the monitoring report? >> Uh, no. 12.04? >> Yeah. Discussion questions. I I haven't got to it yet, so I don't honestly don't know what you're I'm going >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Yeah. I was like, I'm working on it, too. >> It's okay. >> Uh, the financial services report. Is that what you're >> Yes, I Yes, I believe so. >> Okay. So, just so you know, this would typically have been on the regular agenda under financial services update. We've moved that into consent agenda because we are trying to um ask questions. That's what this is for. But the reason it's there for the public is we're trying to streamline our our meetings to where we can get to 50% that we're talking about student outcomes.

135That's hard because there's a lot of business to do too, but that's why that's now residing there. Jessica, >> perfect. Thank you. Yes. I just had a question about slide three on the presentation and so um it talks about our ADM our average average daily membership and the first number is bigger than the second number. So does that just mean our our student enrollment has gone down or why is that average daily membership lower? >> Yes, that that would be so the I don't have the slide in front. So it's 32,412 down to 30,69 >> or the first column on that the ADM >> is going to be based off when it says initial that was based off prior year numbers >> prior year numbers. >> Yes, school year numbers >> and then the adjustment

136is our midter midyear adjustment for this year. So it is showing that um the a daily membership or enrollment has gone down. So, when did I have a question? When did it drop this much, Dr. P? Because we haven't heard since 31,500. So, I'm perplexed on that number. >> Same. >> 30,692. >> Yep. That's what was on the report. >> I'll get back with you on that because I'm still in the 31. >> Yeah, I know that the number came from like the midyear adjustment, but power. >> Okay. Well, just an accurate number for us when you get a chance. >> Yes. mid-year adjustment like midyear during the school year. >> Yeah. So, typically the state does a mid-year adjustment. Um, and does that mean so they kind of look at what your numbers are

137during that year to kind of adjust if they think you're going to enrollment's going to be going up or down and if they need to adjust how much funding they're going to give you. I will say the funding is based off that weighted ADM which has other factors going into it there. But um but yeah, that's that's kind of the state's measurement during the year. They kind of they don't look at it they don't have the time and and resources to look at it every day and adjust every day, but there's usually a mid midyear one that they will adjust that on. >> Okay. And so are is our funding being impacted? I know you just said it goes off of our weighted ADM and I I believe the numbers were still very similar, but

138>> it it is the one that's in this next row down there that goes from about 58,600 down to 56,000. So, it it is it has decreased as well. >> Okay. And do we know why these numbers have decreased? >> I'd be able to tell you that. I'm not sure if anyone else would have those numbers, but I could tell you the money part of it, but the enrollment part I can't. >> Okay. >> If anyone else has that. >> Yes. >> I do my best to. >> So, Jessica, I can help a little bit of that. So, we're we're funded off the highest of the two-year average. Okay. So, the average that you see there, that is 58,646. That's what we were funded for this year. So the midterm adjustment comes based on our

139October one count. Um and then there is a during you know that kind of Christmas break they do adjust. So if there's students follow to your question that le that leave from October one to that midterm checkpoint that could be that. So our our count was a little over 31,000 um at October one. Um but we are funded off the highest of those two numbers. Okay. So this year we were funded off of 58,000. Um if our enrollment increases as of October 1 next year, um then that number could go up or we would be funded off of the 55 uh 56. Um but where we would see the significant decrease in enrollment this year, we'll see that in two years, right? That's when that will affect I mean because this will be this year

140will catch up to us on the funding formula >> if unless it goes up unless our enrollment comes up this year and we turn in a higher number than we did last year then we would be funded on the lower number. Yes. >> Okay. >> So >> and and I suspect as we continue to become student outcome focused Yeah. it should >> figure itself out. But uh thank you guys. Thank you for that. >> Great questions. Thanks Jessica. Okay. Anyone else on that? Okay. And now 15.05 is for to be discussed and voted on separately. >> Yes. Thank you. See, so start us off, Jessica. Tell us what you're what what why why we're pulling it off, why we're voting on separately. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes. Uh I wanted to pull it

141off and vote on it separately because it is a significant amount of money for a consulting service and which I understand it's very important but um $887,046 for a consulting service that is specifically for um gathering research or doing research in the district. And so >> that's not quite right. >> That's not not right. No, this is so just this might clarify everything on it for you. This is we have a facilities management policy that says every five years that we will hire someone that comes in and looks at all of our assets. So, uh, Heath is out there in the audience. I can see him. I think he's walked every one of our roofs and looked at every one of our HVACs and went in every one of our basements and went and went

142and Right. Heath. So, that's what this is is they're creating that so that we will be able to see the stage of our buildings that we're in. It might be useful actually Deborah if so the board member could see what the results of it if we could send the last one out to them. >> Okay. >> For that so that they could see what's going to come out of this how how detailed it is. Like I remember seeing that for the first time of like the age of everything and how much it would cost to get it up to grade where you where it it's a pretty phenomenal sheet. So I think it might help the whole board if they could see what they're about to see. But it has to happen all the time.

143>> Okay. Okay. That that makes sense. Okay. Uh yeah. So I asked I did ask like is this a consulting service? What is it? But it did talk about the technical work from MA plus RSVP Willoughbrook and those groups. Golden group um tours of sites professional demographic research. That's what I was talking about. >> Um cost estimating for future projects, creation of the final master plan document. So okay, it clears it up. Thank you. >> Deborah can add some more to it like what would come out of it. >> Yes. What we're going to be doing um as you mentioned is a facility master plan as uh Paula uh mentioned it is part of policy. >> So the policy uh D12 is >> Oh yeah, we're not there yet. >> We're not there yet. Hold

144on. We're not there yet. >> We just started C. We just >> got it. Okay. Okay. >> I will tell you the are the fun policies. Those are the ones I have to do with facilities. >> It's after next month. That's after next month. No. >> Okay. Thank you. Perfect. >> I just let me read you something so kind of clear exactly what we're doing. Um and like board chair mentioned he with MA plus who is our current bond consulting um is here in the audience if we have further questions and we will be able to provide the information to the board members from the previous work that we had done. Okay. So this facility master planning process is a professional datadriven evaluation of the district sites required by board policy D12 to occur at

145least every 5 years. This study helps the board of education makes informed decisions regarding school boundaries, building usage and the reallocation of resources to maximize student focus investments. The projects involve four special arts firms, MA plus, RSP, Willowbrook, and the Goodening Group, who will provide ex who will provide expert services including physical facility assessments, professional demographic research, and cost estimation for potential projects. Throughout the process, the district is committed to a transparent two-way conversation with the community, utilizing surveys, forums, and task force sessions to ensure that feedback from families and stakeholders direct directly informs and shapes the final facility master plan. Most services are scheduled to be substantial completed by December 31st of 2026, providing the necessary framework for finalized decisions by spring of 2027 of the following school year. Awesome. Thank you. And I

146also did see, sorry, chair. Okay. I did see that um because I did ask how will all of the findings from RSVP be made to all of our families and stakeholders and um it's exciting that this information is going to be available to everybody uh to the board through our district website, social media, community meetings and whatnot. Um and we will also have clear summaries available to our families. Uh so again thank you for being transparent with this work and uh yeah I mean it's all very vital. So thank you. >> Do I do I need to give any additional clarification after this meeting in regards of the 30,692 uh or you clear on that Jessica? Do you need any additional information? >> Um I think that would be helpful but I think that's a

147previous agenda item but >> well I apologize. >> Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Reason I I even bring it up because with this agenda item, it does have the demographic research. Okay. And so, um, as Paula said, when we send that out, you can take a look for the comparison. >> Awesome. Thank you. That would work. >> That's great. Thank you. Okay. So, um, that's a discussion vote on only. So, I'm sure Jessica's going to make the motion here since she pulled it off. >> I'll make the motion, too. >> I'll go ahead and second it for you. So, let's vote on 15.05, please. If there's no further discussion >> and the motion is to approve the item, correct, Miss Suentes? Thank you. >> And I have the motion by board members Suentes and

148seconded by Chair Lewis. >> And I think I heard the chair say go ahead and call a vote, which we are doing. All right, then. Who wants to make a motion for the consent agenda to approve? >> Having received seven I votes and zero nay votes. The motion carries. >> I knew you were doing that. You were counting. I was just getting making people think. Who's going to make the motion for the So moved. Okay. Second. All right. And call the vote. That was and I do believe I heard board member C. Fuentes made the motion. >> Beautiful pronunciation. >> Thank you. And the second was Datam board member Meister. Thank you both. Having received seven I votes and zero nay votes, the motion carries. And we would like to see that displayed on the

149screen, which we do see. And that's good. >> Thank you. Okay. There is no new business in 16. Um I'll make a motion to enter into executive session. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Call the vote. Leave everything here. I don't care. Yep. Having received seven I votes, zero nay votes, the motion carries. All right, let the Let's see. Where's Craig? Craig is not here yet. >> He thought we were going to take a long time. >> Let me text him. >> I'm texting him. >> Forget the cookie. I got her friends in the audience. It's so cold. >> I don't know who gave them this flowers. They weren't here earlier, so I don't know who gave them to them. They might have been the districts because Right. Let the record show we return

150from executive session at 8:11. Thank you, Madam Chair. The board entered into executive session at 7:42 p.m. and returned to open session at 8:11 p.m. on March 9, 2026. All board members present at this meeting today were in attendance in executive session. In addition to Deborah Deck, Laura Holmes, Alicia Sfield, Tony Childers, and Dr. Jamie Pulk, the board discussed student transfer denial appeals, the evaluation and employment of the superintendent, the sailor lease of real property known as Tyler Building. No actions were taken during executive session. >> Okay. I I do need to make a motion to uphold the transfer. >> That's okay. Yeah, I need to make a motion to uphold the district recommendation for the transfer. I I'm not sure on the wording, Tony. You can help me on that, but I know I

151need to do >> um one correction. Uh Craig, the reason I listed out the board members is because Mike Shelton was not in executive session. >> Thank you, Madame Vice Chair. So noted, and I will make that correction in the minutes. And so the motion uh is to uphold the superintendent's decision to deny the student transfers discussed in executive session due to the board determining state law and board policies were followed by the administration and denying said transfers. Do you concur, Mr. General Counsel? >> Okay, I'll make that motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Call the vote. >> Paula Lewis, >> yes. >> Lori Bowman, >> yes. >> Jessica Suentes, >> yes. Dana Meister, >> yes. >> Mike Shelton, Juan Nakuna, >> yes. >> Mag Mhaney, >> yes. >> Having received six I

152votes and zero nay votes, the motion carries. >> All right, Meg, this is all you. We need a motion. >> A motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> Time. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say nay. Hearing none. The motion carries. The board is adjourned.